18 DAYS BEFORE DESPAIR. SYSTEM AJAKSIS. PLANET CRONA. SSV NORMANDY
"I've got a signal, Jeff. Jack's transmitter." EDI reported.
"Send it to the speakerphone," ordered the pilot excitedly and instantly heard specific hissing and familiar voice in dynamics.
" … Normandy! Do you copy?......... ndy!"
"Jack, it's Joker! Do you hear me?!"
"Damn you, Joker! I am so glad to........ you! It's one hell of an apocalypse over here! Do you ........... happened?"
"I know, Jack, I know!" Moreau answered loudly. "What about the others? Where are they? Where is Shepard?"
" ....... no idea! All of them went their own ways on the upper floors, and Shepard told ............... down! She didn't take anybody with her! I think she's there, Joker, and this is a fu...........isaster! Everything has fallen apart here!"
Joker leaned back on his chair and cursed. It was the worst kind of scenario. Anyhow, it was possible to do without any crew members or at least without half of them, but if something happened to Shepard, and something obviously did, then… Moreau diligently drove away this thought.
"Jack, back to the Normandy!" he answered.
"Go to hell!! Here's chaos at its best! Cries, panic! I could use biotics to ............ rubble and maybe I will find some of our people!"
"All right, but be careful!" Joker cautioned her tiredly, disconnecting the signal. "EDI, tell me you have some good news …"
"Negative," answered the AI soullessly. "I think, now we just have to wait, Jeff."
"Couldn't say that …" Moreau sighed heavily and, learning his head back on the headrest, closed his eyes.
IMPATIENCE
"Are you sleeping?"
"No."
"Time drags," she sighed. "Only four hours have passed and I'm going nuts already."
"I understand you. But patience is our main advantage now."
"I'm not able to stay silent and meditate for hours as you do. I'm used to spending every minute of my life in movement, in action … I'm afraid this skill is out of my depth."
Shepard heard as he grinned slightly.
"You don't have а choice. Besides, it is not as difficult as it seems. After all, you like to watch the stars for long periods of time in the Observation deck. It is about the same."
"Were you spying on me?" she cautiously asked, and much to her surprise she heard him let out a hardly contained laughter. Shepard never heard the drell laugh and his present reaction confused her.
"I don't get it. What's so funny?" she asked, trying to keep her voice sounding smooth and easy.
"It's you," Thane continued to chuckle silently.
"Krios, don't anger me."
"And would it be pleasant for you to know that I spied upon you?" He asked, laughing even more.
"What? What do you mean?... Oh... No! God, no! Go to hell!" Shepard felt his jeer and an irritation began to accrue inside her.
"I hate it when somebody gets into my private life and spies on me so it would be better for you to explain yourself!"
"Oh, Arashu… Jane, you're a smart woman!" he exhaled, calming down. "Just connect the obvious things, at least. I have excellent hearing, and the Observation deck on the Normandy is... where?"
She understood his thought at once. Certainly, now it was simple. He undoubtedly always recognized her steps in the hall and the silent hissing of the doors to the Observation deck at night. That fact that this strange drell forced her to feel silly for the last few hours tensed Shepard. Loosing your skills!, she told to herself, but suppressed the arisen emotions.
"Clearly." she replied coldly and hastened to change a delicate topic. "Do you have any idea as to what happened? The explosion is obviously hand-made."
"Yes, it seems that way. I have no idea who can be up to this. However, I arrived here only yesterday so I know no more than you. Now I'm just worried about how fast they can make their way down into the rubble."
Shepard sighed.
"I don't want to be the one saying it but, we're in deep shit, right? We are in the elevator shaft way below the ground floor. They will reach us after all the others, if they ever reach us..."
"Yes, you are right, Shepard. We should not delude ourselves," Thane gloomy responded. "The heartrending experience is upon us."
The oppressive silence returned. And now Jane realized that they were so far and deep that their groans couldn't even be heard by others, hidden under the rubble. No one will hear their attempts to make way to the surface or their feeble cries for rescue. She didn't expect empty promises from Krios, telling her that everything will be okay, knowing perfectly well what the threat was. But nevertheless, she became afraid. Terribly afraid for the first time in many years. To die once again – no problem! But just not like this, just not here, withering away day after day, being locked in this tiny dark cage… Her heart seized, her lungs convulsively compressed, disallowing steady breathing. The woman started to panic.
"How long could a drell … live in such conditions?" she asked cautiously, trying not to give out her state of mind.
"It is difficult to say … It depends on the individual. About fifteen days on the average. And what about humans?" he asked, apparently having similar questions run through his mind.
"Ten … Twelve …"
This was it. Will Shepard breathe again? Unlikely. On one hand, Krios had higher chances of survival before miraculous rescue. On the other – the prospect of staying here next to her corpse could not possibly be pleasant for him. Neither this, nor that seemed to her as an acceptable variant and only convinced her even more of the gravity of their situation.
"Perhaps we could make something with biotics? To clear some of the rubble above?"she assumed with despair, clearly understanding that the thought was reckless.
"How do you figure that? If we touch or shift anything here, we risk breaking an already shaky balance of rubble and being crushed to death."
Jane could not reply. Squeezing her eyes, she breathed heavily, trying to calm down and compose herself.
"I know what you feel, Jane," he suddenly said. "I am uneasy, too. But I believe in cause and effect relations, and I feel that someone like you can't be lost so simply. Your role is too important …"
"Cause and effect relations…" she bitterly grinned. "Then what relation do you see for yourself to be here?"
"Who knows, Shepard?" he said thoughtfully. "It's no small riddle for me. My game is almost over, so probably, I'm here to help you for the last time or to convince you of something … I do not know."
"In that case, what a big twist of fate considering our mutual "warm" feelings toward each other," Jane answered with easy jeer in her voice.
"I understand. You would prefer that someone else was in my place. But I also would like to be far away from you right now. Let's simply consider this as a small addition to the basic test on patience."
"Oh …" she sighed crossly. "All this bosh about patience is starting to get on my nerves. I suggest we both go to sleep."
"As you wish, Shepard" the drell almost whispered and turned over on his side.
